Destiny of my Heart!
By Sharon Holtz
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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So, celebrate Mary and Rebecca did, and after William
served them some cranberry cider, they raised their goblets to
Christmas present, and they did so with the rest of the community,
as Father himself, proposed the toast.
Thoughtfully he said, “Christmas brings many thoughts,
memories and sentiments, and in its wake…if we look for it,
Christmas leaves us hope. So as we gather together here in our
private world with those we love and those who love us in return,
let us always remember to be kind to one another and spread good
cheer where ever we may tread.”
As Jacob cleared his voice of emotion, he raised his own cup,
and conveyed his affection for everyone there by saying, “Have a
Happy, Healthy, and Merry Christmas everyone.”
Gaily the Christmas Eve gala began, and it continued on
through the evening, filled with joyful tête-à-tête, tasty fare, and
fine harmony. Yes…the helpers and tunnel dwellers alike, were
full of so much joy, all chatting about the wondrous events of late,
Devin being home, John Pater’s surprise tapestries to the
community, and of course Lin and Henry’s baby news.
As talk about the new baby progressed to speculation of who
the baby would look like, Dr. Wong brought out a baby picture of
Lin, and said how attractive and sweet his grand-daughter was as
an infant. And when Dr. Wong was sure Henry was not near by,
he expressed how much he hoped the baby took after Lin, more so
over Henry!
To which Lin scolded, "Grandfather! If Henry would have
heard you, your comment would have hurt his feelings."
Helplessly, Dr. Wong explained, "I only mean you were such
a good looking baby...that's all."
Devin asked to look at little Tiger Lilly’s baby picture too,
and then said, “I see what you mean Dr. Wong.” He then teased
Lin by saying “You were a looker even back then.”
Lin peaked over to glance at her own picture, and teasingly
said to Devin, “I was cute wasn’t I?”
She then questioned, “I wonder what you looked like as a
baby. I bet you were cute too!”
Luckily because Jacob had just found Devin’s baby journal,
he was able to say, “If Mouse wouldn’t mind going to my chamber
and get the journal on my desk, I believe I can show you what a
charming baby Devin was.”
Mouse said he would gladly go and get it, and was back quite
quickly with the albums. He then explained, “You had two on
your desk, so I brought them both.”
Jacob thanked him and then laughed as he noticed the other
photo journal was his own when he was a child.
And so everyone had fun looking at both Devin’s baby
picture and of Jacob’s too.
Dr. Wong teasingly noted that Devin luckily took after his
mother…not his father.
Again Lin scolded her Grandfather for his comment which
was this time aimed at Jacob!
For a moment, Jacob pretended to be annoyed by Dr. Wong’s
joke too, but then really…how could he be…as he looked at the
baby picture of Devin, Jacob thought of his young wife once more.
With love, he looked at Devin, and told his son, “You do take
after your mother…and she was beautiful.”
Since Jacob found it difficult to ever speak about her when
Devin was young, this mention of her now was a gift…a true gift
that lifted Devin’s heart. And so with great emotion and gratitude,
he said, “Thank you father.”
As they all stood looking through the photos, the talk
lightened up, and shifted back to Lin and Henry’s plans for
naming their baby, and as they mentioned a few ideas, they all
agreed it may be too early to decide, and that sometimes it is best
to meet the baby after their birth to name them.
Meanwhile in another part of the Hall, requests began to roll
in for song, and so Rolley rose to the occasion, and conducted
William, who along with the children’s choir, sang once more.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, and were spell bound as
they listened to them sing the Christmas Carols. How beauteous
they sounded together, William’s mature voice, blended so lovely
with the angelic sounding children…well clearly their few days of
rehearsal paid off, as their resonance brought everyone even more
pause, than they had the other night. And when the concert was
completed, happily the choir accepted the accolades, and
promised to sing more later on.
And then as the food filled the tables, everyone snacked,
nibbled, and enjoyed the delicious cuisine William and various
helpers had prepared.
Catherine’s cookies also graced the table, and she was
pleased to hear from Jamie, Laura, and Brook how delicious they
thought they were, and they then told Catherine, her cookies were
almost gone!
Surprisingly Catherine asked, “They are?” And when she was
told by them there were only a few more left, she speculated,
“Maybe I better go and get one to save for Vincent. He hasn’t
eaten yet.”
And so she excused herself from the girls and as she placed
one of the last cookies on a plate, she couldn’t help but feel quite
triumphant in her quest! She then glanced around the hall looking
for Vincent, when finally she caught sight of him talking to Kanin,
Olivia, and little Lukey.
So, just as Catherine stepped up to offer Vincent, the
coveted cookie, he assumed she was brining it for Lukey, and so
he took it from the plate, and kindly said, “Lukey, Catherine has
brought you a treat.”
In a bit of a shock her quest for Vincent vanished that
quickly, she began to say, “I brought it for….”
But Catherine quickly stopped herself from saying anything
further, knowing it would sound petty, and embarrass everyone,
and so she heaved a sigh, smiled and simply said, “Enjoy!”
Being the ever instructing mom, Olivia asked Lukey, “Say
thank you to Catherine.”
Well as the cookie crumbs flew, and drool flowed, Lukey
eked out a thank you of sorts as he excitedly reached out for
Catherine.
Loving the fact he wanted to come to her, Catherine happily
reached out in return to receive Lukey, causing Olivia to worriedly
caution, “OH he is kinda messy, you may not want to hold him
right now.”
Being not the least bit concerned, Catherine took him into
her arms, and laughed as she said, “Its fine Olivia…you worry too
much! I love holding Lukey no matter how messy he is…he is so
fun to hold.”
She then spoke directly to Lukey, and asked, “How do you
like the cookie?”
With that Lukey offered Catherine a bite, and it pleased him
so, when she pretended to take a nibble from the cookie he
presented. This little game of feeding Catherine lasted for only a
few more repetitions, until Lukey proceeded to gobble the cookie
up for him self!
As the four of them got a boot out of observing the little fella,
they began to speculate and analyze Lukey’s behavior.
Humorously they soon deducted, that Lukey must think the cookie
is too good to share.
Proud papa Kanin, decided to give credence to their theory
by asking his son for a bite. And so as he leaned in with his mouth
open, Lukey looked at him…took another bite for him self, and
then put it out for his Daddy to taste. This caused them all to laugh
and then say, Lukey has a giving heart after all.
Thinking the cookie looked pretty delicious, Vincent turned
to Catherine and suggested, “I must say, Lukey is making me
hungry watching him enjoy the cookie you brought him, shall we
go and get one to taste for ourselves?”
Catherine handed Lukey back to his parents, and said she
would be seeing him later. And so as the two headed for the buffet
table, Catherine waited until they were out of earshot of the little
family, before saying, “Actually, I believe you just gave Lukey the
last cookie Vincent! I was bringing it over for you!”
Vincent looked at Catherine, and after he replayed the scene
in his head, he tipped his head back and with a silent laugh, said,
“It appears I will have no one to blame but myself, for the fact I
will not be sampling your baking tonight.”
Catherine slipped her arm through his, and sweetly said,
“Tonight” being the operative word. I promise to bake you a batch
of your own.”
As they filled a plate to share with other goodies from the
table, Vincent then offered Catherine a seat in a quieter corner of
the table. He then thoughtfully asked, “Tell me about your plans
for tomorrow, Christmas day.”
As a smile came to her lips, she bent her head as she relayed
her and her Father’s time honored tradition of Christmas morning.
Softly she shared, “Well, let’s see…first things first…we attend
early Service at our Church, and when we return, we put on the
coffee, and then open our gifts to each other, and after we open all
the presents, we have breakfast with Willie before she leaves us to
go to her daughters.”
Catherine then added, “Its pretty much a quiet day after that,
where we either fiddle with our new electronic gifts, or watch one
of our new movies. Dad always loves to say that after a month or
so of running around, it’s a great day to decompress….” She then
caringly added, “…Christmas…it’s a special day.”
Thoughtfully, Vincent then said, “Sounds nice…”
As she agreeably said that it was…the two sat and spoke
about other traditions, both hers and his, and as they talked, the
Christmas Eve party partied on, and all the while, Catherine kept
tabs on her Dad. She was glad to see…but not surprised of how
easily he mixed in with everyone. There he was talking with tunnel
folk and helpers alike. How pleased she was her Dad was having
such a wonderful time.
As Catherine and Vincent got up to make their rounds, and
visit with others, they also stopped to look at the tapestries, and it
was when they were looking at the new nativity tapestries, that
Peter and Charles approached them.
Disappointedly, Peter said, “Hey you two, I just got a page
from my service that a patient of mine was taken to the E.R., and
so I must say goodnight.”
He then added, “I feel like a rat that Charles has to leave too,
but I need a ride.”
Charles patted his pal on the back and told his daughter and
Vincent, “I keep telling him, it’s all right. I’ve had more fun
tonight than I can say. And it’s getting late.” Looking at his watch,
he then humorously added, “Its way past my bedtime.”
Catherine gave her Dad a kiss and a hug, and said, “I will be
home first thing for Christmas Service…”
With a warm smile, Charles replied, “I will look forward to it
honey…and so is Willie. She told me to tell you she has a special
breakfast lined up.”
Raising a brow, Catherine responded, “Hmm, I can’t wait.”
She then hugged Peter goodbye, and with a loving hug in return he
said, “Merry Christmas Cathy.”
She smiled up at him, a man she had known all her life, and
as her love and appreciation for him had grown 10 fold of late, she
kissed him on the cheek, and said, “Merry Christmas to you too
Peter.”
Both Charles and Peter then bade farewell to Vincent, and as
Peter gave him a warm fatherly embrace, he wished him a Merry
Christmas and said he will be seeing him tomorrow.
Vincent replied with fondness, saying he hoped so, as it
wouldn’t be the same without him.
With that said, Charles looked at Peter, and then
lightheartedly inserted, “It is all so clear now, why the years you
weren’t with your mom, that you rarely had time to stop in to see
us on Christmas…its because you were coming here!”
Catherine laughed softly as she relayed, “We were so worried
you were spending the day alone.”
With a bit of a chuckle, Peter shrugged his shoulders and said,
“Well now you know the rest of the story!”
With a warmness, Charles patted his friend’s shoulder and
said, “I guess we do…”
Charles then stepped up to Vincent and because of the
private moment they shared earlier in the evening, he felt a
trusting closeness with him he had not before. And so warmly he
said, “Merry Christmas Vincent, I hope to see you soon.”
In response, Vincent nodded an acknowledgement, and from
the bottom of his heart said, “I hope to see you soon as well,
Merry Christmas Charles.”
And though they did not hug, Catherine noticed something
new between her Dad and Vincent, a connection, or a familiarity
that wasn’t there before. And as she watched their warm
exchange, she thought of how thankful she was for their
deepening friendship.
As the two men turned to leave, Charles looked back once
more, and asked, “Vincent…see that my daughter gets home
safely will you?”
With a gallant nod, Vincent replied, “I will.”
Charles nodded, as if to say, “of course you will.” And then he
turned to join his friend to leave the celebration and the tunnels.
Catherine watched them as they left, and just like clock
work every Christmas, a dreaded thought would dawn within
her…and that was, what if this is her last Christmas together with
her Dad. As tears filled her eyes, she tried to hide them from
Vincent, but of course he sensed her heavy heart, and instead of
asking what was wrong, he simply hugged her, and said, “The
circle of life Catherine…it is out of our control, it can not be
changed or broken…”
Looking up at Vincent Catherine said, “I know…I know…”
With a secure embrace, he let her know she would never be
alone, and then with a touch of humor, he uncharacteristically
asked her, “Hmm, now that your Father has left the party, shall we
get inebriated on William’s cider?”
With tears still clouding her eyes, she burst out laughing, and
tearfully said, “Vincent Wells! I don’t believe you are serious.”
With a smile in his eyes, he said, “I merely wanted to bring
you up from your sadness. Come; let’s get perhaps just a small
glass, I see Devin and the others there by the vat celebrating.”
To be continued
Chapter Twenty-Eight
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